this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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The color screen of e-readers is too dark for me and substantially lacks contrast. It's very noticable. The layer for pen recognition already makes the screen darker, but the color display is adding a lot more to the darkness and lack of contrast. I would only go with an e-reader with black/white screen and even without pen recognition.
Furthermore, e-readers are much more fragile than mobile phones. The design of their screen leads to a high probability of getting broken which is a common thing, search "ereader screen broken" online. My Boox e-reader fell 50 centimeters and the screen was broken, which renders the whole devide unresponsive.
The pen recognition is not as precise as on tablets. You can draw with it, but it's a bit annoying and not for detailed work.
So my suggestion is to go with a device that costs less than 200 USD and do anything else than reading on a phone or tablet.
There were a handful of reasons I returned mine, but this was the biggest one. Color eink isn't ready yet, and the limited color palette wasn't even the worst part... it was the dark screen. Needing to use the backlight so often is just disappointing, and turning it on negates all the good stuff about eink, making you feel like you're using a really shitty tablet. Maybe things will be better in a generation or two, but if you need color you might as well get a conventional tablet.
Yeah that's why I've held off on buying one of these. I would love a color e-ink display for art/design books but the tech just isn't there yet. I'd be ok with the colors just being so-so, but the darkness and lack of contrast is a big issue.